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Annual winefest offers sips to Denver

The popular, 20-year-old event that takes place each fall in Palisade will have a sister event in Denver this spring when the Colorado Winefest is uncorked June 10–11 at The Shops at Northfield Stapleton.

The Palisade winefest isn’t going anywhere, but the Denver event gives the state’s burgeoning wine industry an opportunity to present its wines in a different setting.

“I think first and foremost this is going to be a different kind of event than we have in Palisade,” said Doug Caskey, executive director of the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board. “Palisade is more of a destination event, while the Denver winefest will have a distinctly urban feel to it.”

Instead of a setting similar to Palisade’s Riverbend Park, the Denver event will be showcased down the main street of the open-air Stapleton district.

Colorado Mountain Winefest Director Sarah Catlin, who also is overseeing the Denver show, said 48 wineries already have registered.

“I think that’s an exceptional response to the first year of an event,” Catlin said. “I’m looking forward to having a great synergy between the two events.”

Both events are part of and benefit the Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology, also known as CAVE.

Catlin said the poster and graphics for the Denver event feature Cynthia Duff’s “The Party Animals,” which was the artwork for the 2010 Colorado Mountain Winefest.

“I used ‘The Party Animals’ for all my (Denver) promotions because I already had the art and the graphics done, and I just changed it to say ‘Denver,’ ” Catlin said.

She said a Denver-specific art contest is planned for 2012.

Caskey said that among the differences adopted by the Denver event is entertainment by street performers, rather than the jazz band that plays at Palisade.